Five portable classrooms have officially arrived on Hornby Island this week in preparation for students who lost their school due to fire last year.
Ian Heselgrave, director of operations for School District 71 said to get the portables on site and ready to go for use next month is “a huge accomplishment” in such a short period of time.
Heselgrave reached out to Squamish-based Westcoast Outbuildings who created the five buildings – three classrooms, one library and one administration building – and barged the buildings from Vancouver to the Island next to the ferry terminal.
“It was a great day; it was a lot of work to prep the site. Normally when you’re putting down portables at a school, you’ve got water, sewer and electrical that you hook up. It was like starting from scratch. There was a lot of rebuilding and we have to be efficient because we want to eventually build a school in the future.”
Last August, a fire broke out at the Hornby Island Community School and destroyed the gym and office area. Hornby Island fire chief Doug Chinnery said the back two-thirds of the building suffered serious smoke damage.
RELATED: School for students on Hornby Island ‘normal as can be’: portables expected in new year
While the first few days of classes of the school year were held at Tribune Bay Outdoor Education Centre, students and staff settled into their short-term spaces: the community hall and education society offices are both serving as classrooms, while a third nearby building is being used a the principal’s office.
Heselgrave said currently a crane is on site unloading the buildings from the trucks, with the new school situated about 150m away from the former school. He noted the district selected the corner to place the portables because they didn’t want to take away use of the soccer field or the paved basketball court.
The ultimate goal is to rebuild the school, he added.
While the district is insured, its insurance is not intended to rebuild a school. Rather, SD71 has received emergency capital funding through the Ministry of Education and the treasury board to pay for the portables.
Within the next four weeks, crews will be working to stitch the classrooms together and ensure logistics and infrastructure are in place. Heselgrave noted he hopes to have the doors open to students and staff on Feb. 19.
As for the future of the former school building, part of the school was determined to not be salvageable. One third to one half of the building has already been demolished and hauled away and the remaining building has been taken down to its studs due to significant smoke and water damage.
“As we move forward, we’ve created a report with three options which include building with the existing facility or building something new,” explained Heselgrave. “It’s all about cost, but also provides us a great opportunity to do seismic work.”
A report with the options will be sent off to the Ministry of Education within the next couple of weeks for review.
Once a new school is built, Heselgrave doesn’t foresee the need for the modular classrooms on Hornby but added because the district is growing, they may be put to use elsewhere within the district.
Daniel Arbour of the Hornby Island Education Society said once staff and students settle into the new classrooms, conversations will start to discuss permanent school design, hopefully a couple of years away.
HIES started a School Renewal Fund to assist with financial gaps, as the school served not only the Island’s students but the larger community; as well as being the gym, it housed a natural history centre.
HIES is a registered charity and can provide donation receipts for any amounts about $50.
For more information or to donate, click here.
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